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Santa Cruz: Warning for United

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Roque Santa Cruz has warned Manchester United that Saturday's clash at Ewood Park will be 'like a cup final' for Blackburn.

Rovers are currently ninth in the Premier League following their 3-1 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.

Everton, Portsmouth, Aston Villa and Manchester City are all ahead of them in the race for Europe and Santa Cruz believes it is vital to pick up points against United.

Sir Alex Ferguson's men are closing in on the title but Santa Cruz is more concerned about Blackburn's push for a Uefa Cup or Intertoto Cup spot.

"We have nothing against Manchester United winning the league," he told the Lancashire Telegraph.

"But we are in need of points to get closer into Europe.

Ambition

"That's our ambition, but there's few games left, so for me this game against United is a cup final.

"The next game is very important, because if we want to keep the pressure on Aston Villa and Portsmouth, we need to get a result."

Santa Cruz scored a stunning goal in stoppage time at Anfield but the Paraguayan concedes that Blackburn's overall display was not up to scratch.

He said: "We didn't play as well as we can - and that's why we lost. We are disappointed with that.

"We felt we could get a very good result here, either winning or drawing.

"But we didn't play as well as we have been playing - and you need to play well against Liverpool because they are a great side.

"We didn't quite have the same quality on the ball, and we didn't play our normal game, so I don't think the confidence was there."